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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251425">A Vow Of Vengeance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat2000/pseuds/Cat2000'>Cat2000</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:41:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251425</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat2000/pseuds/Cat2000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from the movie The Old Guard and I’m not making any money from this fic</p>
<p>Summary: Being imprisoned and dying over and over again can make some people lose their mind. For others, it makes them even more determined to win</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Purimgifts 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Vow Of Vengeance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storyteller1358/gifts">Storyteller1358</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warning(s): Spoilers for the movie; references to violence</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>Quynh knew exactly how long it took to drown. Exactly how long the water took to fill her mouth. How long she instinctively tried to hold her breath for before she inevitably failed and the water filled her lungs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And then the pounding in her head. The silent screams. The cold darkness of death.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Only to revive and have to go through it all again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How long had she been trapped here for? A long time, she believed. Long enough for others of her kind to awaken. She felt them. <em>Every single one</em>. And they felt her, too. Knew she was reaching out to them. At first pleading, begging. Then demanding. Now, she threatened. <em>Find me, or I will exact a revenge so terrible, your ancestors will tremble.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>And still, no one came to free her from her watery prison. Still, she failed to hold her breath. Still, she drowned. Revived. Screamed inside her head, because the water that killed her over and over again wouldn’t let her scream out loud.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She couldn’t even scream.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Images swirled around inside her head. Memories and glimpses of the world now. She saw Andromache, the warrior with shorn hair. Now calling herself Andy. As if changing her name and appearance could make any difference to the woman who’d <em>abandoned</em> her. Who’d left her to die, over and over again, while Andromache got to <em>choose</em> when and where and how she died.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And then light touched her face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Someone was staring down at her. <em>Someone</em> had found her. Finally. From the glimpses she’d had of the modern world, she recognised that the person was a diver. And they had an oxygen tank attached to their back. Oxygen she desperately needed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She didn’t have long before the water took her again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was impossible to tell whether the person above her was male or female. Old or young. All she could see were eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Her prison shifted. Tilted. If she wasn’t trying so desperately to conserve her oxygen, so that she didn’t die <em>again</em>, she would have tried to scream. Would have struggled. Instead, she held her body unnaturally still as her whole world tilted on its axis. As the cage that held her bound began to rise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was slow going. <em>So slow</em>. But she’d learned patience. She clung grimly to life. Fought against the darkness that threatened to draw her down. Fought through the water that surrounded her; that suffocated her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And suddenly, she could breathe again. Her face was out of the water and she turned her head to one side, coughing up the water that had drowned her <em>so many times</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Fuck, fuck, <em>fuck</em>.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The voice came from above her and Quynh slowly focused on the person who floated in the water next to her. Now, with nothing obscuring the person’s features, she could see the face: a young woman, perhaps in her late teens, red hair damp and slicked back and face pale, save for a few freckles scattered around her nose.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not one of her kind. An ordinary human had been the one to find her. To drag her up out of the deep, dark depths.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hands grabbed her, pulling her free of the rotted bindings. Someone else, perhaps more than one person, pulled her up and onto the deck of a ship. A thick, rough towel was draped over her shoulders and she wrapped it around her shoulders, shivering in spite of the warm sun that beat down on her head and shoulders.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A woman with the same red hair as Quynh’s rescuer knelt down in front of her. Offered a flask that had steam coming from the top.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Quynh took the flask. Sniffed at it experimentally and then took a cautious sip, all without taking her eyes from the woman’s face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Scalding hot liquid coursed down her throat, but that didn’t stop her from greedily drinking down the rest. She’d been cold for <em>so long</em>, she had to cling to any kind of warmth possible.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What are you?” the woman whispered, her eyes wide.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Quynh didn’t respond until she’d drained the contents of the flask, shaking the last few drops into her mouth. Then, she placed it on the deck in front of her and forced a smile to her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just an ordinary human.” She would have thought hearing her voice out loud for the first time in centuries would sound strange, but it didn’t. She didn’t even sound hoarse. And speaking the same language as the woman was easy. She’d learned a lot from the glimpses of the others she’d caught.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Bullshit,” the woman said. “You’re not like us. That cage you were in? It’s old. Ancient. And someone doesn’t just survive getting dropped into the depths of the ocean like that. <em>What are you</em>?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Quynh smiled. There was no humour in it, but she smiled nevertheless. “My name is Quynh. If you want answers, you can help me find who I’m looking for. Her name is Andromache of Scythia.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">The End</span>
  </strong>
</p>
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